PRESS-SERVICE
of CONSTITUTIONAL COURT of UKRAINE
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Delegation of Polish advocates visited the Constitutional Court of Ukraine
On July 2, 2015 in the frames of the cooperation project of the Council of Advocates of Kyiv and the The Polish Bar Council ф delegation of Polish advocates consisting of Marius Mazepus, Piotr Osiewacz, Natalia Szalamacha, JaroslawSczczepaniak and Project Coordinator from the Ukrainian side Natalia Savinova visited the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.
The delegation made a tour around the Court premises, including library, archives, press center, souvenirs exhibition and the session hall and got familiarisedwith the powers of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, specificities of the constitutional proceedings, forms of appeal to the Court, procedure of appointment of judges etc.
During the stay at the Court, a meeting with Judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine Petro Stetsiuk and Viktor Shyshkin took place.
The interlocutors discussed specific features of constitutional proceedings in Ukraine, the procedure of consideration of cases in the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, and touched upon the protection of human rights and freedoms. Judge Shyshkin emphasised that in some countries there is a constitutional complaint, but in Ukraine there is not, and citizens can only apply to theConstitutional Court regarding the interpretation of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine in case of inconsistent application of certain norms by courts of general jurisdiction. Yet, theConstitutional Court may decide on the unconstitutionality of a certain provision of the law, even if a citizen applied for its interpretation. “The issue of introducing the constitutional complaint in Ukraine remains controversial”, stressed the judge.
The parties also discussed how advocacy is implemented in Ukraine. "I am confident that the presence of advocates in the composition of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine would be very positive," said Petro Stetsiuk.
Furthermore, the interlocutors mentioned the events that had taken place inUkraine in early 2014. Jaroslaw Sczczepaniak said that the events on Maidan had changed the mentality of the Polish people and they all wish all the best to Ukraine.
In the end, members of the delegation thanked the judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for the warm and hospitable welcome and invited the Ukrainian side to Poland.
